(Also preached at Wimpole Road Methodist Church on 23rd July)

Michael preaching Michael, mid sermon, at Wattisfield URC

Listen to the sermon as preached at Wimpole Road Methodist Church below:

Tell us, by what authority doest Thou these things? Or who is He who gave Thee this authority?

[Luke 20. 2]

I do wonder whether Jesus would have made a good politician. From the outside, this looks like a masterclass in answering the question you wish to answer, and not the one you have been asked. In almost Humphrey Appleby style, Jesus is asked a question, ‘By what authority are You doing these things?’ and turns the question round to those asking. On our way down here from Scotland, Jackie and I listened to an interview on BBC Radio Scotland where the presenter, interviewing Ian Blackford, former MP, took Mr Blackford to task for not answering the question he had been asked, but instead answering a question of his own making. It is a useful skill for a politician.

But why? Why is this a useful political skill? Well, as we all know, often this tactic is used to avoid difficult questions, perhaps questions that may reflect badly on the interviewee, questions that will show him up or show him to have failed in some way. After all, returning to Yes Minister, we can consider this wonderful quotation from the first episode:

Appleby: [to the Minister] You came up with all the questions I hoped nobody would ask.
Hacker: Opposition’s about asking awkward questions.
Appleby: And Government is about not asking them.
Hacker: Well, you answered mine anyway.
Appleby: I’m glad you thought so, Minister.

But, as we know, Jesus was no silver-tongued politician. He did not hold back in speaking the truth, even when it got Him into trouble. So we must ask ourselves why He did not answer the question in this way:

Chief Priests and Scribes: Tell us, by what authority doest Thou these things? Or who is He who gave Thee this authority? Jesus: I do these things by My own authority, for I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

Well, perhaps Jesus was using a trick still employed by schoolteachers today - not just answering questions from a schoolchild, but instead helping them to an answer. Perhaps Jesus, in not giving a straight answer, was trying to lead the religious leaders to an understanding?

Maybe.

The problem with that, is Jesus’ question to the Religious Leaders didn’t really help them answer their own question. It was not a question designed to help them to a greater understanding of Him and His ministry. So what was it?

It seems to me that Jesus’ question to the Religious Leaders was an excellent way to shut them up. To shut down any dissent or questioning, by check-mating them before they had a chance to cause further trouble.

But it leads me to an interesting question - by whose authority was Jesus doing these things? In this sermon I would like us to consider three questions. Firstly, by whose authority was Jesus acting? Secondly, by whose authority am I acting? Thirdly, by whose authority can you act?

By whose authority was Jesus acting?

To answer this question, I invite you to consider the following verse from Matthew 28 - the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus says:

All power [read authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

[Matthew 28. 18]

Here we have a seemingly clear answer to our question. All power (or authority) is given to Jesus to do these things. We can infer from this that it is God who has given Him this power, after all Jesus is God’s “beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” [Matt. 3. 17]. If the power and authority came from God, and is now in the hands of Jesus, we can say categorically that Christ was acting in His own authority - He was absolutely entitled to do this thing, to preach these messages, to heal these people. Christ needed nobody’s permission, even the permission of the religious elite of the day. Christ was acting in His own Name, needing no authorisation from anyone else. We will return to this later.

By whose authority am I, as the preacher, acting?

Here we come to a slightly harder question, because different people may have different opinions on this.

Let’s start with the opinion of the URC (as a body, not as any particular individuals). Before I was forced to exit the ministerial training process, I had trained as a lay preacher. This accreditation is still in place within the Eastern Synod - I have a certificate to prove it, showing that I had completed the necessary training and undergone appropriate testing. I was authorised to preach the Gospel by the Synod Meeting, and shook hands with the Moderator to welcome me into the role. So am I here under the authority of the URC?

Or what about office holders within the Church here in Wattisfield? Technically it is down to the Eldership of an individual Church to organise the provision of worship, to book preachers, etc etc. This responsibility is often given to one person, sometimes called the Pulpit Supply Secretary. This person usually books the preachers, checks the hymns and readings, etc, but is ultimately responsible to the Eldership, and they to the Church Meeting. So, am I here preaching in this beautiful Church by the authority of the Eldersip? By authority of Jo, your Leader? By authority of all of the membership?

What does Scripture say? Well, let us continue reading at the end of Matthew’s Gospel:

All power [read authority] is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

[Matthew 28. 19]

Scripture says that I, as your preacher, come in the authority, under the banner, of Jesus Christ Himself, where He sent His followers out to preach and to baptise. Now, let me be clear, I am not saying that this gives me any sort of authority in and of myself. I have no power. Rather, I am bearing a precious gift, it is my responsibility to share it with you (the people to whom I have been sent). I am not the giver - that is Jesus - rather I am the bearer. This is important to remember.

Let’s imagine it is Christmas. My parents have been to see my aunt and uncle and, as they are parting company, my aunt and uncle give them my Christmas present to pass on to me. My parents take this present into their care, take their leave of my aunt and uncle, and travel home. Two or three days later, my parents (seeing me), pass my present on to me. I open my present and am delighted with it. Who should I thank?

Well, of course, my parents deserve thanks for passing it on, but the present is not from them. The present is from my aunt and uncle. My parents were the bearers, but my aunt and uncle were the givers. I may be the bearer of this message, but Christ alone is the giver.

Or let us consider the armed forces. Those of you who have been in the army, or know people who have, will know that a junior serviceman salutes his seniors. What soldiers, sailors and airmen are taught early on is that, when saluting an officer, they are not saluting John Smith, but instead saluting his commission. They are saluting the pips or crowns on their shoulders which are, in turn, symbols of authority given them by the King in their commission. Officers are commissioned to hold a position, to lead, to order, by the monarch. Those junior to them are expected to obey them as if the King himself were instructing them. Let us call that their commission.

There is a certainly a similarity here to Jesus, but it is not absolute. You see, friends, I have been commissioned too. But my commission is not a royal commission, signed by Elizabeth Regina or Charles Rex, but is in fact the Great Commission (as found at the end of Matthew’s Gospel), signed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Unlike a royal, military, commission, this Great Commission does not make me senior to you, in fact it makes me quite the opposite, but it does give me the authority to speak in the Name of Jesus Christ, to share His Gospel, and to invite people to receive Him. This Great Commission came to me at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus said to go out, to preach, to invite people in (I paraphrase slightly).

While there are reasonable arguments to say I am here by authority of the Synod, or at the behest of the Eldership, I would argue that I am here not to represent the Moderator, not to appease the Eldership or the Members, but to bear a gift, entrusted to me, but destined for you, from Jesus Christ Himself. I am here as His emmisary, sent to Wattisham from Glasgow (I hope Jesus pays mileage!), to give you a message of Good News.

By whose authority can you act?

I’ve just spent the last few minutes talking about myself, but this Great Commission does not end with me.

Jesus Christ, in looking around at the Mission Field (as it used to be known), said “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few” [Matt. 9. 37). These is certainly work to be done - and the work to be done is not your work, not my work, not the denominations work, but Jesus’ work.

Following on from talking about the Great Commission, allow me to declare that this Great Commission that I stand here under is a Great Commission for you too. The harvest is plentiful, and YOU are the labourers.

Furthermore, unlike with so-called ‘dead certs’ what we may encounter in life, be they horses, the next big product launch, or anything else, success is GUARANTEED. Jesus said, in John’s Gospel, that “There will be one fold, and one shepherd” [Jn. 10. 16]. This Commission is GUARANTEED to succeed!

And how can this success be guaranteed? How can anyone, Jesus, me, anyone, guarantee that our mission will succeed? Because Scripture tells us:

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

[Acts 1. 8]

So, friends, to answer my question. When (note I say when, not if!) you share the Gospel with others, whose authority do you do it in? Do you do it by authority of the URC? Do you do it by authority of the Eastern Synod? No friends, you do it by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself!

Returning to Luke

So, to return to our Scripture, from which I have deviated: “as He taught the people in the Temple, and preached the Gospel” [Lk. 20. 1], He was questioned. ‘How dare you speak in this way?’ ‘What do you think gives you the authority?’

The big issue for Jesus was not His authority, or his potential lack of it (although as we’ve considered, He had all the authority He needed), rather it was what the Religious Leaders would do.

You see, if Jesus had said He was acting under God’s authority, the Religious Leaders would have charged Him with blasphemy, they would have taken Him to task and we would have seen the events of Calvary come sooner than was God’s plan. Jesus still had ministry to perform and could not afford to stop now.

If, on the other hand, Jesus had said He did these things by His own authority, the Religious Leaders would have declared that He had no authority (he was merely a man) to say these things, and tried to turn His listeners away from Him.

Here we see an example of being as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves [Mt. 10. 16]. Jesus knew how they would respond whichever way He answered. He knew that the question was there to set Him up to fall. He knew that He had to be clever in His answer.

You and I, friends, may well have to be clever in how we answer similar questions. We may well be asked trick questions, set up to catch us out. There may well be times where we are asked a similar thing. I was once asked who I thought I was, when I was trying to share the Gospel with someone. ‘Who do you think you are to try and convert me?’, came the question. If I had said, ‘I am here on Jesus’ behalf, with a message from God’, I don’t think that would have been received well. It was the truth, but the truth is not always well received, is it? If, on the other hand, I had replied saying ‘Oh me? I’m a nobody’, then I suspect I’d have been equally badly received! No friends, we have to be clever with how we answer. The enemy wants nothing more than for us to be tied up in knots, unable to witness for Christ.

To conclude

So friends, as you go out from this place, remember that you go out as one sent by Jesus Christ Himself. You do not go in your own name, you do not go to share your own message, you go as a messenger of the Most High Jesus Christ. Yours is not the kingdom, the power and the glory, for they belong to God alone, but it is your privilege to share the most precious treasure the world has ever seen - the Gospel of Christ.

And now to Him alone be all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen